SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
AND DISABILITY REFORMS
BRIEFING
SEPTEMBER 2014
SEN STRATEGIC STEERING GROUP AND BOLTON
PARENT CARER CONSORTIUM
Overview of the briefing
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Need for change
Legislation underpinning the reforms
Key points from the new SEND Code of Practice
Education, Health and Care Plans
Personal Budgets
Local Offer
Preparing for Adulthood
Questions
A reminder: the case for change
The current system is not working for families and children:
• Young people with SEN do less well than their peers at school and
college and are more likely to be out of education, training and
employment at 18;
• Schools and colleges can focus too much on the SEN label rather
than meeting the child’s needs, and the current Statements/ Learning
Difficulty Assessments do not focus on life outcomes;
• Too many families have to battle to find out what support is available
and in getting the help they need from education, health and social
care services; and
• When a young person leaves school for further education, they enter
a very different system which does not carry forward the rights and
protections that exist in the SEN system in schools.
Aims of the SEND Reforms…....
 Children’s SEN are picked up early and support is routinely put
in place quickly;
 Staff have the knowledge, understanding and skills to provide
the right support for children and young people who have SEN
or are disabled;
 Parents know what they can reasonably expect their local
school, college, LA & local services to provide, without having
to fight for it;
 Aspirations for children and young people are raised through
an increased focus on life outcomes, including employment;
 For more complex needs, an integrated assessment and a
single Education, Health and Care Plan are in place from birth
to 25; and
 There is greater control for parents and young people over the
services they and their family use.
The vision: Joined up support across
education, health and care, from birth to 25
• Participation of children, their parents and young people in decisionmaking.
• Early identification of children and young people’s needs and early
intervention to support them.
• Greater choice and control for young people and parents over
support.
• Collaboration between education, health and social care services to
provide support.
• High quality provision to meet the needs of children and young
people with SEN.
• Focus on inclusive practice and removing barriers to learning.
• Successful preparation for adulthood, including independent living
and employment.
Where
disagreements
happen, they can
be resolved early
and amicably, with
the option of a
Tribunal for those
that need it.
Enablers
Joint
commissioning
Better
disagreeme
nt
resolution
processes Positive
Wellbeing
Having friends
Employment
prospects
0-25
Children and
young people with
SEND
and families
Making their
views heard
Extending choice
control over their
support.
Local offer
Outcomes
Children, young
people and parents
understand a joined up
system, designed
around their needs.
Option of a Personal
and
Budget
Information,
advice and
support
Good
qualifications
Integrated assessment and
planning
Education Health and
Care plan is holistic,
co-produced and
focused on outcomes.
Legislation to support this vision
• The Children and Families Act 2014
• The Special Educational Needs and
Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years
(This replaces the current Code of Practice, the Learning Difficulties
Assessment guidance and the DfE’s Inclusive Schooling guidance)
The Children and Families Act
• On 13th March 2014 the Children and Families Bill became the
Children and Families Act.
• This Act takes forward the Coalition Government’s commitments to
improve services for vulnerable children and underpins wider
reforms.
•
The Act focuses on:
– adoption & looked after children,
– family justice
– special educational needs
– childcare sector
– the role of the children’s commissioner
– statutory rights to leave and pay
Code of Practice (2014)
From 1st September 2014 the following will have to have
regard to the new Code of Practice:
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Schools
Academies
Colleges
Early years settings
Local authorities
Pupil Referral Units
Pre and post-16 Independent Specialist Providers (ISPs) Health
Bodies including NHS Commissioning Boards, clinical
commissioning groups, NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts and Local
Health Boards.
SEND Code of Practice: Key elements/changes
• 0-25 age range
• Requirement to ensure that parents, children and young
people are fully involved in decision making and reviewing
provision
• Requirement to jointly plan and commission services to
ensure close co-operation between education, health and
social care.
• FE sector required to have regard to the Code when carrying
out their duties in relation to young people with SEN
• For those with more complex needs Education, Health and
Care Plans (EHCP) will replace statements of Special
Educational Need and Learning Difficulty Assessments
• Offering families the option of a personal budget
• A much greater focus on preparing young people who have
SEN for adulthood.
• Need to publish a Local Offer outlining what provision is
available for children and young people who have SEN.
*Note: until April 2018 this system and the ‘old’ system will be
running in parallel
The reform vision: A whole school approach
Engage parent
Assess
Child or
young
External
support
ec
Persons
with
SEN
Engage parent
Engage parent
Review
Plan
Do
Engage parent
What will this mean for settings, schools and colleges?
• ‘SEN Support’ will replace ‘school action’ and ‘school action plus’
• Produce and publish online a School SEN Information Report
• Schools must inform parents when pupils receive SEN support,
involve them in planning and reviews of progress and meet with
them at least 3 times each year
• There is no requirement for schools to use Individual Education
Plans (IEP’s). Schools will however be expected to determine their
own approach to record keeping that clearly evidences provision,
progress, a focus on outcomes and the monitoring and evaluation of
SEN support.
• Settings, schools and colleges will have to admit a child/young
person, where the school/college is named in an EHC plan
• Appoint a suitably qualified or experienced member of staff as
SENCO (National Award)
• Make arrangements to support pupils with medical condition and
schools must have regard to statutory guidance supporting pupils at
school with medical conditions. This can be found on the DfE
website
• Develop processes and procedures for ensuring children, young
people and parents are engaged in decision making an planning
• Utilise a graduated approach; an assess, plan, do, review cycle
through which earlier decisions and actions are revisited, refined and
revised with a growing understanding of the pupil’s needs.
THE GRADUATED RESPONSE
Effective Whole School Provision is
characterised by:
• high aspirations for the achievement of all pupils
• good teaching and learning for all pupils
• provision based on careful analysis of need, close
monitoring of each individual’s progress and a shared
perception of desired outcomes
• evaluation of the effectiveness of provision at all levels in
helping to improve opportunities and progress
• swift changes to provision, in and by individual providers
and local areas, as a result of evaluating achievement
and well-being
What will this mean for those working in Health?
• Where there is provision which has been agreed in the
health element of an Education, Health and Care plan
health commissioners must put arrangements in place
to secure that provision (Health provision that educates
or trains a child/young person will usually be treated as
an educational need).
• Identify a Designated Health Officer
• Health advice to contribute to the Education, Health and
Care needs assessment will be collated into a single
report reflecting the views of all health services involved
with the child/young person.
• From September 2014 families may chose to take may
continuing health care payments as direct payments.
What will this mean for those working in Social Care?
Where a child or young person has been assessed as
having social care needs (for example direct payments for
short break care) in relation to their SEN/D social care
teams:
• Must secure social care provision under the Chronically
Sick and Disabled Persons Act (CDSPA, 1970) which
has been assessed as being necessary to support a
child or young person’s SEN and which is specified in
their Education, Health and Care plan.
• Should provide educational institutions with a contact for
social care advice on children and young people with
SEN/D.
• Must undertake reviews of children and young people
with Education, Health and Care plans where there are
social care needs.
• Where possible align social care assessments with
Education, Health and Care needs assessments.
• Must continue to provide children’s social care services
until adult provision has started or a decision is made
that, following an assessment, a young person does not
meet the eligibility criteria for adult social care.
What will this mean for parents and families?
• Specific decision making rights about Education, Health and
Care plans are given directly to young people once they reach
the end of compulsory school age (the end of the academic
year in which they turn 16 years). These include requesting
an assessment, making representations about the content of
a plan, requesting a particular institution to be named,
requesting a direct payment and appealing to the Tribunal.
• Opportunities to participate in discussions and decisions
about individual support (Annual Reviews MUST be
undertaken in partnership with child and their parent or young
person) and local provision.
• Greater choice and control over support.
• Parents knowing what they can reasonably expect their local
school, college, local authority and local services to provide.
• Local authorities have a duty to provide information, advice
and support on SEN to children and young people directly, as
well as to parents; this has been extended to include children
and young people with disabilities (even if they don’t have
SEN) and their parents.
Education, Health and Care
Plans (EHC plans)
• Who are they for?
 Children and young people aged 0-25 years with more
complex needs (when SEN provision can not reasonably
be provided from the resources normally available to
mainstream settings)
• What are they?
 Co-ordinated assessments and plans to meet the SEN of
a child or young person.
 The final step of a graduated response
 They will replace Statements of SEN and Learning
Difficulty Assessments (LDAs)
Statement v EHC plan
STATEMENT
EDUCATION, HEALTH AND CARE
PLAN
Takes 26 weeks to complete
Takes 20 weeks to complete
Only considers educational needs
Considers needs across education,
health and care
Focussed on provision
Focussed on aspirations, outcomes and
provision
Tend to be retrospective in nature
Forward looking always planning for
transition to the next stage of education
Resources provided to school to make
the required provision
More scope to use resources flexibly
No option for a personal budget/direct
payment
Option of a personal budget/direct
payment to enable more choice and
control over the support received
The Bolton Education, Health
and Care plan
• No national template (but sections to be
included outlined in code of practice)
• Drawn from the work of the pathfinders
• These can be found at:
www.bolton.gov.uk/send
Transfer from Statements and LDAs to an
EHC plan
• Children and young people who have a statement or
receive provision in further education as a result of a
LDA will be transferred to the new system gradually:
– young people in further education with an LDA will
transfer to the new system by 1 September 2016; and
– children and young people with a statement will
transfer by 1 April 2018.
• To ensure that support continues for these children and
young people, the legislation relating to statements and
LDAs will remain in force during the transition period.
• The legal test of when a child/young person requires an
EHC plan remains the same as that for a Statement and
therefore it is expected that all of those who currently
have Statements/LDA’s will be transferred to the new
system.
• In Bolton we have planned for the transfer process to be
carried out via a Person Centred Annual Review meeting
at the end of a Key Stage.
• This will stagger the conversion process across the
given time frame and ensure that the conversions are
carried out at an appropriate and meaningful time for
each child/young person.
Personal Budgets
• A personal budget is the total cost of the provision required to
meet the special educational needs of a child or young person.
• Four mechanisms for the delivery of a personal budget offer
parents/young people more choice and control over provision:
Direct Payments – where individuals receive the funding directly
in order to contract, purchase and manage services to provide the
support specified in the EHC plan themselves
An arrangement/notional budget – where the Local Authority,
school or college hold the funds and commission the support
specified in the EHC plan
Third party arrangements – where direct payments are paid to
and managed by an individual or organisation on behalf of the child’s
parent’s of the young person
A combination of the above
• Options regarding the management of a personal budget, and
the preferred method for receiving this, will be discussed with
parents/young people during an Education, Health and Care
needs assessment and during a transfer review. Direct
payments/third party agreements can also be requested
during an Annual Review of an EHC plan.
• Direct payments and third party arrangements are optional
• Direct payments and third party arrangements can include
funding from education, health and social care (separate
payments during 2014-2015)
What funding will be available to take as a direct
payment/3rd party arrangement ?
• This will change year on year as commissioning arrangements are
reviewed
• In 2014-2015 it will include:
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Education: element 3 funding (high needs top up funding)
Health: A personal health budget following eligibility for
continuing health care.
Social Care: Direct payments to meet the eligible social care needs of
children, young adults and their carers.
• Any provision to be delivered via a direct payment in an educational
institution must be agreed by that institution
• Services already commissioned by the LA/CCG will not, initially, be
available as a direct payment as this could destabilise local services
Education
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Mainstream or special
school/college places
PRU places
2,3 & 4 year old
Nursery Places
Resourced/Specialist
Nursery Places
ISP places (19-25 yrs)
Training Providers
Out of School Care
Element 1& 2 Funding
Children’s Centre
services
Transport
Behaviour Support
Ladywood Outreach
Sensory Support
Education Psychology
Parenting Support
Connexions Services
SNUFFs Volunteers
Pupil Premium
Parent Partnership
Youth Services
Health
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Health Visiting
Primary Care (GPs)
School Nursing
CAMHS & Adult Mental Health
Services
Children’s and Adult’s Learning
Disability Service
Audiology Service
Children’s Community Nursing
Physiotherapy
Occupational Therapy
Nutrition and Dietetics
Speech and Language Service
Consultant Paediatrician
Support
Family Nurse Partnership
District Nursing (18 years+)
Dental Services
Orthotics
Opthalmics
Podiatry
Wheelchair Services
Prescription charges
Care
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Local Youth Clubs
Childcare
Social and Leisure (Bridges)
5-19 After School and Youth
Saturday Club
Residential Short Break Care
Family Based Short Break
Care
Family Support Short Break
Care
Family Support Domiciliary
Care
Children and Adults with
Disabilities – Social Work
Adult In-House Day Care
Adult In-House Short-Term
Breaks
Block Contracted Adult
Short-Term Breaks
5-19 Play is for All services
Family support for deaf and
hearing impaired children
Transport
Home Start Services
Provision proposed to be available for a direct
payment in 2014-2015
EDUCATION
HEALTH
SOCIAL CARE
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Personal Assistants
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Home Care for Children
Continuing Health Care
Packages for Adults
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Adult Private Day Care
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Sensory Integration
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Adult Short-Term
Residential Care
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Counselling
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Private domiciliary support
via agency
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Social and Leisure
activities/out of School
Activities
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Transport if to access a
specific activity
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Brokerage (not yet in
place)
Some specialist equipment
(e.g. laptop, specialist
software etc)
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Sensory Integration
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Specialist Dyslexia Teacher
Support
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Counselling
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Continuing Health Care
Packages for Children
Educational Psychology;
therapeutic support
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Teaching Assistant Support
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Brokerage Support
(not yet in place)
Brokerage Support (not
yet in place)
EHC needs assessment initiated by the Local Authority
Option of a Personal Budget explained to parents by the Inclusion and Statutory Assessment
Service admin team during initial telephone conversation and an expression of interest in a personal
budget is noted.
Parents state that they do
not want a personal budget
Parents express an interest in/desire
for a personal budget (capacity
assessment if required)
EHCP drafted by an ISAS Officer with the elements for which a
direct payment can be made being clearly identified in the plan
Social Care element available
for a direct payment identified
Education element
available for a direct
payment identified
Health element available for a
direct payment identified
Funding to be offered as a direct payment/3rd party agreement, and the outcomes to be achieved through the use of this
payment, agreed at Resource Allocation Meeting (RAM) attended by a representative from Education, Health and Social Care.
Person centred planning meeting held to include discussions regarding direct payments/3 rd party arrangements, whether the
parent/young person wishes to take up this offer and what the payment can be used for.
Finalised EHCP issued detailing how all provision, including any direct payments/3rd party arrangements, will help to achieve
the identified outcomes. A direct payment/3rd party contract will be issued outlining how the money will be used, managed and
audited.
Review of the direct payment/3rd party arrangement; 3 months, 12 months & annually
The Local Offer
• Two key purposes:
 To provide clear, comprehensive, accessible and up
to date information about the available provision and
how to access it
To make provision more responsive to local needs
and aspirations by directly involving disabled children
and those with SEN and, their parents, and disabled
young people and those with SEN, and service
providers in its development and review
Where can I find the Local Offer
website?
The Bolton Local Offer website can currently be
found at:
• www.localdirectory.bolton.gov.uk/send.aspx
What if I do not have access to
the internet?
• The idea of training community ambassadors is
currently being explored.
This would mean that people working in community
buildings such as children’s centres, the One Stop Shop,
leisure centres, libraries etc. would be aware of the SEND
Reforms and able to locate and pass on appropriate
information.
School SEN Information Report
• To be completed by each school
• Links from the Local Offer website to the SEN
Information Report for each school.
• This will contain information such as:
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school processes for identifying and assessing SEN
processes for consulting with parents and young people
arrangements for reviewing progress
expertise and training of the staff in relation to SEN
• This will enable comparisons between schools
Preparing for Adulthood
• Annual Reviews from year 9 onwards
must now focus on preparing for
adulthood:
– employment
– independent living
– participation in society
Preparing for Adulthood pathway
• The Post 16 task and finish group have been
developing a pathway that will hopefully bring
forward and therefore smooth the transition
process for those leaving Year 11 and those
leaving college provision (i.e. those in Y12-14).
• Work will be done to embed this during the
course of this academic year.
Further work
• Work undertaken by the task and finish group
this year will focus on:
– Developing pathways for the different strands;
independent living, employment etc.
– Ensuring the information on the Local Offer website
adequately reflects post 16 options as they become
available e.g. supported internships, traineeships,
apprenticeships etc
– Planning for transition between LA children services,
adult health and social care services and/or Bolton
CCG.
– Publishing a Post 16 guide for parents and carers
Summary
• A number of significant changes will be introduced from
1st September 2014. These include:
– Need to ensure that children, young people and
families are kept at the heart of the process and
involved in decision making
– Publishing of a Local Offer (SEN Information report
for schools)
– Replacing Statements/LDA’s with Education, health
and Care plans
– Need to offer option of direct payments to increase
choice and control for families
– Need to jointly commission services
However…….
• We are all learning together and it is
unlikely that at this point all professionals
will be familiar with all aspects of the
SEND Reforms.
• The next 12 months will be a steep
learning curve for all as we face issues for
the first time and work through them
together, but this will help us to create a
better system for SEND in the long term.
Questions
• Please write questions on a post it note
and stick the on the wall.
• We will then produce a FAQ document on
the Local Offer website answering these
questions.
Thank you for listening